“New house building approvals decreased by 1.9% in the month of November,” stated HIA Chief Economist, Tim Reardon.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics today released its monthly building approvals data for November 2023 for detached houses and multi-units covering all states and territories.

“The fall in this month’s figures sees approvals in the three months to November lower by 8.0% compared to the same period in the previous year,” added Mr Reardon.

“The low volume of building approvals throughout 2023 will see the volume of homes commencing construction continue to slow this year.

“Other leading indicators of activity in the housing market, such as new home sales and housing finance data, are also consistent with their confirmation of this projected slowdown.

“The rise in the cash rate is the primary cause of this slowdown in approvals.

“A continued fall in the number of new homes approved indicates a slow start to the Australian government’s ambition to build 1.2 million new homes in five years starting mid-2024,” concluded Mr Reardon. As the graph below shows, Australian building approvals have been made at a rate of approximately 9,000 dwellings per month. By contrast, there would need to be 20,000 approvals per month to attain the five-year goal of 1.2 million homes.

In seasonally adjusted terms, decreases in house approvals in the three months to November compared to the same period in the previous year were led by New South Wales (-16.0%), Victoria (-7.2%), South Australia (-6.6%) and Queensland (-6.0%). Western Australia saw a 5.4% increase over the same period. In original terms, detached approvals in the same period fell in the Northern Territory (-30.5%) and in Tasmania (-21.9%), while the Australian Capital Territory saw an increase (+3.0%).

9 Jan 24